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What Are Corsi And Musk Up To?

Grind for January 24th, 2019FIRST SIP:“I learned a long time ago the wisest thing I can do is be on my own side, be an advocate for myself and others like me.”

– Maya Angelou

Don’t Poke The Bear

The Headline

Jerome Corsi sues Robert Mueller, Jeff Bezos, and Washington Post

The Grind

In a lawsuit filed December 3rd by the infamous Larry Klayman, conservative author Jerome Corsi accuses Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his cronies of trying to coerce him into giving false testimony against President Trump.

This week, Corsi amended the lawsuit to include Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and his newspaper The Washington Post following an interview with reporter Manuel Roig-Franzia.

Corsi claims the reporter illegally obtained information from the Mueller probe and that the interview caused him to lose a $15,000-per-month severance package he had been collecting following his termination from InfoWars last June.

Roig-Franzia’s questions were based on the assumption that Corsi’s severance package was hush money intended to keep him from talking about Roger Stone – an InfoWars contributor and Trump ally who is also being questioned as part of the Russia investigation.

The Details

Corsi’s involvement in the Russia investigation began last August when he received a subpoena demanding he testify before Mueller’s grand jury.

What prosecutors are trying to figure out is whether Corsi had previous knowledge about WikiLeaks’s plans to publish emails hacked from the account of former Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta; and if he had this information, whether he shared it with Roger Stone.

Corsi claims he had no relationship with WikiLeaks but somehow discovered on his own that the site had obtained Podesta’s emails.

During his testimony, Corsi said he told Stone in August 2016 that WikiLeaks was planning to release the emails. He also said Stone asked him to contact WikiLeaks about releasing the emails ASAP following the Access Hollywood tape that revealed Trump’s “locker room” comments about women.

Stone insists he had no knowledge about the content or source of any WikiLeaks material published in 2016.

After his testimony, Mueller offered Corsi a plea deal if he would admit to lying to prosecutors about email exchanges between himself and Stone.

Corsi responded to the request by filing the lawsuit, which accuses the Mueller investigation of using coercion, extortion, and blackmail in order to “remove President Donald J. Trump from his duly elected office.”

With the addition of Bezos and the WaPo, the lawsuit now seeks $1.6 billion in damages.

Sorry Not Sorry

The Headline

Bad news for Tesla employees

The Grind

Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Friday sent an email to all employees informing them of his decision to significantly reduce his workforce.

“We unfortunately have no choice but to reduce full-time employee headcount by approximately 7%,” wrote Musk, noting the company’s 30% growth in 2018 is “more than we can support.” Moving forward, Tesla will “retain only the most critical temps and contractors.”

Last week, SpaceX (another one of Musk’s companies) announced plans to lay off 10% of its employees.

The Details

The lay-offs are not surprising considering the financial challenges Tesla faced in 2018 – including a stunning net loss of $709.6 million during the first quarter following the underproduction of Model 3 cars.

The following month, Musk created more problems for himself when he released a series of tweets on April Fool’s Day claiming the company was bankrupt.

In May, two occupants of a Tesla Model S died during a crash in Fort Lauderdale. In June, Tesla laid off 9% of its employees.

“It’s high time we became profitable,” said Musk at the time. “The truth is you’re not a real company until you are, frankly. That’s our focus right now.”

Moving into 2019, the challenge for Tesla will be to achieve profitability with a smaller workforce.

The road ahead will be “very difficult,” wrote Musk, who is looking to improve manufacturing engineering and drop end costs for consumers. Earlier this month, the company broke ground on a massive factory in Shanghai that will produce “affordable versions” of Models 3 and Y.

GOOD TO THE LAST DROP:Did you know… Alligator snapping turtles can live for over 150 years. Scientists know this because some of the turtles had musket balls in their stomachs.